Arlow wrote:They will instantly make the Wild a slightly better than .500 club.

IMHO I see it that way also. They still have basically the same team they had last year with a larger payroll. We'll see how far they go, if they go, into the playoffs. If a new CBA is agreed to they could be worse off if it's 65 mil or less. Guess we'll see on that one.

RT @Ledger_NJDevils: Lou: "I did reach out to (Ryan) Suter. He did not have any interest in coming to this conference." There ya have it, Suter killed the Parise to Pens hopes. Never wanted to play in our conference.

They chose being on the same team and close to home over being on a team with any real hope of winning a cup anytime soon. Seems pretty dumb to me, but it was their choice. Minnesota will be better next year and might even squeak into the playoffs, but they are no real threat. I guess being close to family for the next decade means more than winning a cup for those two.

While I'm disappointed that the Pens didn't sign Suter and Parise, I'm a bit relieved that they didn't invest in two more long-term contracts. The fact Suter and Parise didn't sign with an existing contender helps ease the disappointment quite a bit.

Bunkerman535 wrote:Like it or not the Penguins are not as good as they were last season. Losing both Parise and Suter stings, losing Staal hurts, losing Sullivan hurts. The team as it is composed now is not good enough to make a cup run. Now the Staal deal looks bad, Sutter will be ok but no help from the other guys for a while. Lots of cap space in today's NHL= losing.

Bunkerman535 wrote:Like it or not the Penguins are not as good as they were last season. Losing both Parise and Suter stings, losing Staal hurts, losing Sullivan hurts. The team as it is composed now is not good enough to make a cup run. Now the Staal deal looks bad, Sutter will be ok but no help from the other guys for a while. Lots of cap space in today's NHL= losing.

Nonsense.

i don't see anything in there that's nonsense

This team is most definitely capable of making a cup run with the players they have now. It's nonsense to think they can't compete with what they have.

Overstatement of the Year from Neil Sheehy: "This is like Gretzky going to L.A., Malkin and Crosby going to Pittsburgh," said Sheehy, Suter's agent. "It's a game-changer. It's huge. It's major league-type stuff. The Wild just got two of the best players in the league at their positions."

Bunkerman535 wrote:Like it or not the Penguins are not as good as they were last season. Losing both Parise and Suter stings, losing Staal hurts, losing Sullivan hurts. The team as it is composed now is not good enough to make a cup run. Now the Staal deal looks bad, Sutter will be ok but no help from the other guys for a while. Lots of cap space in today's NHL= losing.

Nonsense.

i don't see anything in there that's nonsense

This team is most definitely capable of making a cup run with the players they have now. It's nonsense to think they can't compete with what they have.

A team with Crosby and Malkin is always capable of making a cup run. That said, judging by the recent track record of the past few Crosby/Malkin teams, this team, as currently constructed, is going to have a tough time making much noise when it counts. Unless Bylsma gets fired.

shmenguin wrote:"The team as it is composed now is not good enough to make a cup run"

that's not gospel, but it's not nonsense either. especially since they also brought back the coaching staff that crapped all over the place in april.

Ok, but then that comment about missing out on Parise doesn't change that at all does it? Bringing in another impact offensive player would reinforce whatever inane mentality they went into the Flyers series with that they needed 5 goals a game to win.

shmenguin wrote:"The team as it is composed now is not good enough to make a cup run"

that's not gospel, but it's not nonsense either. especially since they also brought back the coaching staff that crapped all over the place in april.

Ok, but then that comment about missing out on Parise doesn't change that at all does it? Bringing in another impact offensive player would reinforce whatever inane mentality they went into the Flyers series with that they needed 5 goals a game to win.

parise makes a significant difference. he's more valuable than simply the sum of his abilities.

Sams_Dog wrote:Overstatement of the Year from Neil Sheehy: "This is like Gretzky going to L.A., Malkin and Crosby going to Pittsburgh," said Sheehy, Suter's agent. "It's a game-changer. It's huge. It's major league-type stuff. The Wild just got two of the best players in the league at their positions."

Can't blame him for saying that....Imagine what his commission was on this deal!!

shmenguin wrote:"The team as it is composed now is not good enough to make a cup run"

that's not gospel, but it's not nonsense either. especially since they also brought back the coaching staff that crapped all over the place in april.

Ok, but then that comment about missing out on Parise doesn't change that at all does it? Bringing in another impact offensive player would reinforce whatever inane mentality they went into the Flyers series with that they needed 5 goals a game to win.

parise makes a significant difference. he's more valuable than simply the sum of his abilities.

not to mention we suck at being healthy. that's an important consideration. picture sid or geno getting hurt and then compare this roster to last year's

Sams_Dog wrote:Overstatement of the Year from Neil Sheehy: "This is like Gretzky going to L.A., Malkin and Crosby going to Pittsburgh," said Sheehy, Suter's agent. "It's a game-changer. It's huge. It's major league-type stuff. The Wild just got two of the best players in the league at their positions."

Can't blame him for saying that....Imagine what his commission was on this deal!!

These guys make the Wild better, no doubt, but I started trying to think of who the other Minnesota defensemen are and I could not come up with one off the top of my head.

So at F they have Parise, Koivu, Heatley, Seto as their only reliable top-6 options. At D they have Suter, and guys like Gilbert and Jared Spurgeon. Ho hum. At G they have an aging and underperforming Nick Backstrom. They're not that special.

No doubt though that those 2 guys made them a playoff team, and I'm happy for that organization to bring in 2 big names.

Those deals would be absurd here in Pitt, there's no way we could have competed with those offers as currently structured. I would never condone 13 years for a guy that isn't a franchise player.

Parise is a franchise player, most certainly. Maybe not behind two other franchise players, but still.

Minnesota also has a reliable top 6 option in rookie Mikael Granlund. Granlund has been playing in and dominating SM-Liiga for the past two years. He'll have a little adjustment period, I'm sure, but he is going to be really, really good. They also have Jonas Brodin on defense who is coming over and making the jump this year. Judging by the reports from some of the NHL Swedes who played with Brodin internationally recently, he's going to be another good one. Then, of course, they grabbed Dumba this year. Larsson and Zucker should be NHLers soon too.

They'd be even further ahead if not for that terrible trade to dump Kim Johnsson's salary where they gave Leddy up for, lol, Cam Barker.

But, yeah, they're not an immediate contender. A playoff team and up-and-comer, though, definitely.